Public hearing for Emerson School National Register nomination March 25
Public invited to attend and make comments
by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online!
March 23, 2025
The Sublette County Historic Preservation Board-Certified Local Government, has submitted a proposal to have the Emerson School in rural Sublette County be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The public is invited to attend a public hearing to give comments about the proposal at 3:00PM on Tuesday, March 25th at the Board’s regular monthly meeting in the board room of the Sublette County Library in Pinedale.
The Emerson School is a one-room log building constructed in about 1909 on rural ranchland located approximately 20 miles southeast of Boulder, Wyoming. The school served students from nearby ranches for 45 years, from 1914 to 1959. It was one of the County’s longer and later operating one-room schools.
The remote Emerson School was administered by Fremont County until 1923 when Sublette County was formed. Records indicate that the school accommodated between one and eighteen students in its single room in any given year. A total of thirty-four teachers and 64 different students have been identified as associated with the institution over the decades. In addition to being a classroom for first through eighth grade education activities, the Emerson schoolhouse was also utilized by local residents as a community center, being the site of dances, community meetings and religious education (Sunday school).
What is now Sublette County once had many such similar one-room rural schoolhouses serving nearby ranching families. But, today, nearly all have collapsed, disappeared, or lie on private land, some still serving as storage sheds on area ranches. Another of the few remaining school house structures in Sublette County, the Sommers-Price school, was moved and was restored as part of the restored and preserved buildings of the Green River Valley Museum in Big Piney. Few one-room schoolhouses exist today in their original locations in the nation, especially in settings similar to what things looked like when that school was in operation.
In 2023, a documentary was made about the Emerson School. The half-hour long film was researched and created by filmmaker Brooks Mitchell. In creating material for the production, he interviewed four former students (Gary Jensen, Laura Jensen, Chris Jensen Sundstrom, Glenna Grinder Johnson), along with a former teacher (Evelyn Evans Lohman), and local historian Jonita Sommers. (One Room Life Lessons)
In 1959, the decommissioned school building was left on private land on an area ranch and used for various purposes. The building was later lovingly restored back to its original schoolroom purpose by landowner Claire Faler and subsequently donated to the Sublette County Historical Society in 2020 so it could be preserved into the future. Physically, it is in excellent condition, and its interior is furnished with period furniture and books.
As part of the National Register nomination process, the Sublette County Historic Preservation Board and Sublette County Historical Society welcome any information from any former students, teachers or their families or friends regarding the time this school was in operation.
After the public hearing, the nomination will move forward to the Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office, and if approved, then on to the national office for consideration. For more information, please attend the public hearing at the Pinedale Library on March 25th or contact Sublette County Historic Preservation Board President, Clint Gilchrist, by email at clint@sublette.com or by phone at the Museum of the Mountain Man in Pinedale, 307-367-4101.
|
